Sebastian Vettel wins Indian GP

October 30, 2011

Sebastian Vettel lead from pole to chequered flag to seal the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit in New Delhi.Vettel made his 11th win of the season look routine, beating Jenson Button into second place while Lewis Hamilton, who started in fifth place, finished seventh.

And it was Hamilton who was involved in the major talking point of the race after colliding with Brazilian Felipe Massa on Lap 24. Massa was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the inaugural Formula One Indian Grand Prix on Sunday, staying on track to equal the record for the number of wins in a season.

Vettel has 11 wins this season, and victories in the final two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi would equal Schumacher’s record of 13 wins. Vettel turned in a flawless performance, leading every lap and registering the fastest lap.

Vettel led from start to finish, building a cushion throughout to finish 8.4 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso a distant third at the Buddh International Circuit.

The race saw yet another collision between McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to intensify their rivalry. Massa was given a pit drive-through penalty before later breaking his front suspension and retiring from the race.

Sebastian Vettel made his trademark fast start, pushing his lead beyond four seconds after just five laps. Button cut the gap to 2.7 seconds after the second set of pitstops, when both switched to the harder tires, and looked game for mounting a challenge, but could get no closer.

Webber closed within a second of Alonso on the final lap, but the Spaniard held on to claim a podium finish.

Hamilton was forced to pit with damage after the collision with Massa, and that was enough to push him down to seventh. Massa made it a weekend to forget when he went too hard over a high-speed curb and snapped his front suspension — the same mistake he made in qualifying.

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari was eighth, Adrian Sutil was ninth to give Force India points in its home race and Sauber’s Sergio Perez took the final point for 10th after starting 20th on the grid.

Button increased his lead in the fight for second in the championship, moving 13 points ahead of Alonso, with Webber six points further back.

Sachin Tendulkar waves the chequered flag as Vettel leaps from his car.

Sebastian Vettel said :-‘It was a very good race,’ he said. ‘I enjoyed the time in the lead, I had a little bit of a fight with Jenson who strangely kept closing in at the pit stops.All in all it was a very smooth race, the car was well balanced.’